Wonderful Wedding Weekend

I know you all have been missing us! We have been jumping from here to there and I have been super busy with all of the above. The girls are growing so quickly and becoming little ‘big’ girls more and more everyday. The things they say and do just crack me up and keep me on my toes. This past weekend we had the long awaited wedding of Kathryn & Josh. It was a fabulous weekend and filled full with festivities. I must admit, the wedding day was not only nerve racking for the bride and groom, but for me. I was the Matron of Honor, the girls were flower girls and William was a groomsmen. We all played a role and it was a little chaotic covering the tasks as Matron of Honor, keeping the girls inline and making sure we had everything we needed for the events. Mrs. Tabby came with us to help with the girls and enjoy some time with her daughter who lives in Dallas. She was a big help and made the weekend a little easier for us. Be prepared for a super long post of the entire weekend! It will make up for my intermittent lack of posts over the past few weeks.

After going over the list and checking it twice, we packed up and headed to Dallas on Thursday morning.  We checked in at the Four Seasons Las Colinas Thursday afternoon, unloaded and began the festivities. The wedding reception was held here at the FS so it was really nice to be close to our bed, like just down the sidewalk.  Here are the girls Friday morning playing on our porch and waiting for Daddy to make a surprise visit as he was playing golf. The course was just out our door, which was nice, but I had to constantly watch the girls from enjoying the green.  Their favorite thing to do over the weekend was to fill up water bottles from the bath tub and then take them outside and water the grass. It was great and consumed them for about 45 minutes at a time. No complaints from me!

 

 

Already into Daddy’s tux…notice the shoe under Adde’s arm.

 

 

Our surprise visit from Daddy. Notice the water bottles in the girls hands?

 

 

Heading out to the Bridal Luncheon at the Melrose in Downtown Dallas on Friday morning. Adde, pink bow, Clare with green. Mrs. Tabby bought them the cute little purses from the hotel and they didn’t put them down all weekend. Thanks Tab.

 

 

 

Adde with Sweet Gams and then the girls opening their flower girl goodie bags with Aunt Kak.

  

 

The girls were great at the Luncheon. They acted like little ladies and I must say they are getting pretty good with sitting at the table and eating on china. The silverware was a little heavy this time, but they did their best.

 

 

The bride, the bridesmaids and the flower girls.

 

 

Friday evening, heading to the rehearsal and dinner. The girls loved to swing on the rails as we walked down the sidewalk to our room.

 

 

The Rehearsal Dinner was at The Ranch, a restaurant in Las Colinas. G’auntie Kay and Aunt Di-ane are making silly smiling faces, with Uncle Bobby giving rabbit ears to Aunt Diane.

 

 

It’s the wedding day! Saturday morning and the girls ready to head to Aunt Kak’s room for breakfast with the bride. Adde in the pink skirt, Clare in silver.

 

    

 

On a walk with Daddy…

 

 

About to watch Aunt Kak get her hair and makeup done!! They loved that show!

 

 

We made it to the church…barely. We were of course running out of the hotel in a hurry to get to the church on time for pictures and Adde tells me she needs to go potty. I tell her just a minute and as I look back she is still walking, but couldn’t hold it and it’s running down her leggings. Great, just what we need! So I throw her in the bathroom, take off her pants and panties, grab one of the nice wash clothes they have to dry your hands, wash her off, throw on new panties and off we go. Luckily it didn’t get on her skirt or noticeably enough and she was a little cold without her leggings.  We arrived at the church and changed clothes pretty quickly and were set for pictures!

Clare playing with Aunt Kak and then freshening up her makeup! :)

 

 

Of course Miss Adde is into Aunt Kak’s shoes! She wanted to wear them so bad! Look at their cute hair do. That is my super fast up do and it actually looked very cute and lasted all night!

 

Miss Clare wondering what to get into next. Both of the girls helped Kak put on her shoes.

   

 

The dolls who stole the show…well not really, but did bring a little cheap entertainment.

 

 

Smelling the sweet flowers with the sweet bride!

 

  

 

Mommy and her girls! Adde has two bows, Clare just one. It’s almost that time…

 

The story goes… It’s time to walk up the aisle. The groomsmen enter, the bridesmaids enter and then it’s our turn. The girls were to walk in front of William and I and hold hands and carry little flower baskets. So, they grab their baskets, each others hand and are off. Just before they get next to the first pew on the aisle, Adde looks down the aisle, stops, tells me No and wants me to hold her basket. Clare grabs William’s hand and they are off down the aisle. Adde crosses her arms and follows. Then there is me, by myself with my bouquet and Adde’s flower basket…and down the aisle I go. The girls walked down the aisle, not as planned, but made it and then headed up the steps to the altar to stand with the other bridesmaids like they were supposed to do. Just as soon as they get up there, they notice a kneeler (that wasn’t there the night of rehearsal) and both of them jump up on the kneeler and stare at Father…who is waiting for the bride. I try to get both off, but no hope. So then I say, “look, here comes Aunt Kak” and then Clare turns around, sees Aunt Kak and then takes off down the aisle to her. William jumps out of line and grabs her while Adde is still playing on the kneeler. Kak & Josh get up to the altar and standing just in front of the kneeler that Adde is dominating and looking at Father then back at Kak & Josh. Father says the opening prayer and finally it is time to sit down. I may have forgot to mention that this is 2pm in the afternoon, no naps, and the beginning of a traditional 1hour 15 minute Catholic wedding ceremony. Mrs. Tabby (our sitter) is there with us and sitting in the pew behind us with two goodie bags to keep the girls entertained. We do go to church, but there is usually a lot less going on and much less need to be totally quiet. There are usually other children in mass and Adde & Clare are pretty quiet, but just up and down. So, they start opening their goodie bags and are super excited at what’s in them as you hear throughout the church  “Coooool, sticker books. A slinky. Clare, look I have CANDY!”  It took about 2 minutes for me and Tabby to make the decision for Tabby to take them out of church during the ceremony and just bring them back at the end to recess out. So, I had a wonderful quiet 45 minutes until they arrived back during communion. Clare danced around in front of the pew for a while and then when it was time to stand back up on the altar for the closing prayer, they both insisted on bringing their flower baskets and goodie bags with them. Fine! Adde sets up shop on the alter and starts taking the stuff out of her goodie bag and Clare is being a good girl. Father announces Mr. & Mrs. Josh Grisham and it is now time to recess. Clare walks down to Gams and I was the first one after Kak & Josh to walk out, but held up the line because I couldn’t get Adde to come with me. So, finally I just leave her up there and walk out. William tried to get her too when it was his turn, but she insisted on staying so he walked out. Father was ready to walk down and he tried to get her, but no such luck. She was content as could be on the alter. Pops went and swooped her up and then headed down the aisle with Gams and Clare. The entire congregation started clapping since Pops got her to go and then she started smiling and clapping for herself. William and I felt it was for sure a disaster, but I’ve never had so many people come up to me at the reception and tell me how cute the girls were and how great they did….and gave them entertainment to boot. It made me feel much better and I quickly realized they are 2 and 1/2 years old…what else did I expect? I wasn’t even allowed to have flower girls under 3 participate in my wedding…church rules I guess. 

So, my nerves are calm and I’m ready for a big drink…of which I can’t have! Argh! The wedding and reception was beautiful and after a short nap in the car from the church back to the hotel where the reception was, the girls were ready to dance all night.

Clare telling me “really? another picture?”

 

 

The girls didn’t give Gams and Pops much space at the wedding and wanted to be right in the middle of whoever they were talking to or dancing with.

 

 

 

Me & Pops!

 

 

Dancing with the girls and Pops.

 

 

The girls playing with some of the family. Thanks to everyone who gave them sweet attention! They loved it.

 

One of the many dances with Daddy and the Bride! We had fabulous music to dance to and I’m sure you would agree if you are familiar with the band Suede. They are out of Austin and very good friends of the family.

  

The girls danced until around 9:30 and then went back to the room where Mrs. Tabby was waiting to tuck them in. They had a great time and thank you Tab for coming with us and helping out with the girls so we could enjoy ourselves too!

Sunday morning we had a post wedding brunch and got to kiss everyone goodbye! It was great to see all the family we rarely get to see!

The girls with Aunt Diane and Uncle Bobby…who are coaching them to do the longhorn sign.

 

 

The girls with the newlywed, Mrs. Grisham.

 

 

Post wedding running and playing with Kak. I would say they pretty much left their mark at the Four Seasons. They colored the porch chair with black crayon, peed on the carpet in the lobby and…See those green balls in the background sitting on that table? Since Pops pretty much felt like he owned the place after paying for the wedding, he gave the girls two of those balls to play kick ball with. They loved it.

 

 

 

 

Jumping to Daddy.

 

The END! I think this may have been my longest post ever. I’ll post pics of the baby bump when I get the courage and will try to get back on the blogging wagon. I still want to do a more detailed update on the girls and share some funny stories…with one of them being that the girls now pull up their shirts and ask the other one to kiss the baby (and they kiss the tummy). Pretty darn cute, but a little scary.